Grow up on industrial policy or shrink Scottish living standards
We are witnessing the infantilisation of a nation, terrified of its own development shadow.
The avoidable Energy Catastrophe that is Grangemouth
High UK energy costs are threatening what’s left of the Grangemouth petrochemical plant. Ineos simply can’t compete with cheaper imports from the USA where costs are 4x lower. “US producers can make the kinds of polyethene at issue much more cheaply than British suppliers because of their access to North America’s abundant domestic supplies of shale gas, lowering production costs.” The irony is that the Grangemouth site rests over the same shale gas the company is forced to import at higher costs.
There’s little sympathy for Sir Jim Ratcliffe amongst the Scottish Left. Spare some thought however for the 500 workers still employed at the Grangemouth plant and up to 50,000 jobs threatened in the UK supply chain.
The mindless anti-fracking campaign has deprived companies in Scotland of vital ingredients needed for economic success. Those companies should be leveraging local resources, like shale gas, to compete world-wide. Instead they are being strangled by nimbyism dressed up as environmental concern.
There hasn’t been a single significant environmental issue linked to fracking in the last 35 years. The same technique is already used in the North Sea to improve recovery rates. Fracking technology is also behind the Enhanced Geothermal Systems (EGS) being used in Cornwall where nobody bats an eye. https://gel.energy/about/united-downs
I fear that the same Green playbook used against fracking is now being deployed against Scottish Data Centres. Endless handwringing over water, light and noise…legitimate concerns that all perfectly manageable. We are witnessing the infantilisation of a nation, terrified of its own development shadow.
SNP leadership must back Rosebank & Jackdaw or stop calling themselves Scottish
Charandeep Singh makes a spirited defence of the Scottish supply chain that depends on the approval of Rosebank & Jackdaw:
“When people think about North Sea oil and gas, they tend to think about platforms, reserves and production figures. Those things matter, but they are only part of the story. Behind every major energy project sits a much wider economy: ports, fabricators, engineers, logistics firms, manufacturers, apprentices, project managers, consultants, vessel operators and hundreds of businesses whose expertise has been built up over decades.”
If the SNP Leadership don’t finally come off the fence on the Rosebank & Jackdaw decision then they should stop calling themselves Scottish.
Our unilateral declaration of de-industrialisation is devastating living standards
Matt Ridley - a science writer, former Member of the House of Lords, and Economic Affairs columnist - applauds a Scottish genius from 250 years ago and despairs of our current energy policy. This article is a must read.
And while you're at it reopen the Scottish coalfield and build some clean coal burning power stations!